Price of a pup

[mellongoose]

When will they come back down? Will they ever actually come back down? Who is paying £2500 for a dog that would usually cost £750?

We were all set to get a second dog for our family but will put it off until the prices drop. I hope they do, but I cannot see any sign at the moment.

What are your thoughts on this? Are we likely to see our rescue centres filling up?

I think they will. Leaving aside the lockdown factor, at some point we must reach saturation point - where everyone who wants a dog and can afford £2 - £3k has got one.

At the moment rescue dogs are being snapped up very quickly too, but I think that will change - however if you have cats/another dog/small children, suitable rescue dogs are usually few and far between.

We bought a pup for £2k. He would have been £1800 pre lock down due to breeding but ended up being one of the cheapest available which is bonkers. The most expensive ones don’t seem to be kc registered or have been bred for anything other than looking cute.

I think they should be more than they were selling for but not £4K I was quoted. It should be something you plan and save for rather than a whim thing. The timing was perfect for us with dh working completely from home, summer holiday cancelled etc. But we had been talking about it for a couple of years. He’s totally worth £2k. I imagine prices will come down but not to what they were. I know lots of families who’ve used the opportunity of lockdown to bring a family into the family and I think it’s a sign of people using the opportunity and reassessing what we want from family life. Loneliness is a killer so maybe lives will be saved? (Optimistic perhaps)

Last year, we had said we would look for the right one and go for it this summer holidays. But we can wait. I am too tight to spend that 🤣

Dog snatching by gangs is really rife over here in Ireland at the moment and it’s being blamed on the UK’s increased demand for expensive puppies.

I am too tight to spend that

You might have to rethink being tight when you get a pup. The initial cost is the tip of the iceberg - it's the ongoing costs that are the real expense.

Lockdown pups are already coming into rescue, though demand is still high. By December you'll be able to take your pick.

We spent 800 on our spaniel 2.5 years ago and I thought it was outrageous. 2k is insane! I think after lockdown people are going to realise dogs arent fitting with their lifestyle and get fed up. Rescues will be inundated with dogs. I say you are right to wait it out.

Also, as a PP has said, Ireland is currently experiencing a HUGE problem with dogs and pups being robbed to sell in Britain, so dont be tempted by a cheap pup.

@Pelleas

I am too tight to spend that

You might have to rethink being tight when you get a pup. The initial cost is the tip of the iceberg - it's the ongoing costs that are the real expense.

Have had many dogs so know the ongoing costs. But too tight to pay artificially inflated prices 😊

Am happy to wait until reputable breeders drop their prices, but my concern is that if people continue to pay these prices, they are unlikely to drop.

Our breeder increased her prices to be lower end of new normal as the danger is that good quality pups from reputable breeders are bought and sold on for profit. It’s really hard to know what’s right but selling a pup for £800 when people will pay £2k means reputable breeders either increase prices or risk resales.

The rescues round here aren’t filling up with Covid puppies at all - mn keeps saying this but it’s not true here!

Every day in Ireland there’s another story of dogs being stolen for breeding and selling. One of my neighbours had his young puppy stolen from his yard and the older dog was badly battered by the thugs. The older dog is a terrified shell of his former self. It’s completely heartbreaking.

Today’s latest story - 32 stolen dogs recovered by Gardaí.

www.irishexaminer.com/news/courtandcrime/arid-40036400.html

Dogs are being stolen here too (England, fairly rural): a friend of a friend had his kennels cleaned out.

I'm wondering if the massive price hike is less to do with a massive rise in demand and more connected to a choking-off of the supply of smuggled puppy-mill puppies from central Europe during lockdown.

And yes, a big dilemma for reputable breeders: if you don't sell at the current crazy price, you risk a pup being sold on unless you really, really, know your buyers.

It just breaks my heart if I'm honest. So many dogs out there wishing for a family to call their own. Yes lockdown made us reassess what we want and for many people that was to get a dog in their lifes (which is always good news). At the same time the rescues have less people and therefore less dogs. I'm really worried people will realise they can't handle the effort of having a dog and just abandoning them. I am waiting for a dog, but with a small little one I know ill have to wait a lot to get a rescue. I'll wait as long as I have to. I don't want to contribute to the profitable business a dog's life is becoming.

@GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman

Dogs are being stolen here too (England, fairly rural): a friend of a friend had his kennels cleaned out.

I'm wondering if the massive price hike is less to do with a massive rise in demand and more connected to a choking-off of the supply of smuggled puppy-mill puppies from central Europe during lockdown.

And yes, a big dilemma for reputable breeders: if you don't sell at the current crazy price, you risk a pup being sold on unless you really, really, know your buyers.

According to the Dogs Trust there has been no choking off of the supply of smuggled pups. During the lockdown they have taken possession of 43 pups with a street value of £80k, and 12 heavily pregnant bitches who delivered 53 pups with a street value of over £100k. That's the tip of the iceberg. The lockdown really didn't impact on illegal smuggling - the way they get them in is often hidden away in legitimate cargo entering the country, and that never stopped.

There has definitely been a massive rise in demand for lockdown puppies, and that is shown through internet searches. They are already beginning to turn up in shelters.

@GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman lockdown did literally nothing to stop puppy smuggling from Ireland, and I suspect also from elsewhere in Europe.
Ferries between Ireland and the UK operated as normal during lockdown with no restrictions at all - boom time for puppy farmers. Meanwhile legal, licensed transporters were prevented from moving animals.

BIL’s friend heard noises from his back garden last week and found a man with two pups in his hands trying to steal them. He dropped them as he couldn’t get over the wall, but managed to grab the adult Male instead. Dog stealing is rife here in Ireland, and prices are still going up.
We just got our German Shepherd last week from a rescue...there are so many looking for homes and it’s heartbreaking looking at them.

I'm am an accredited breeder, Scotland.

My prices have not and will not increase. To the contrary I don't even advertise and have a list as long as my arm.

Myself and a breeder friend have been aghast at this and have been reporting adverts and complaints to KC. £4500 for a poodle cross being the most recent. Another where the "breeder" was auctioning the puppies, absolutely disgusting and I hope she's shut down.

Do not pay the prices, use word of mouth, find a reputable breeder and wait for the right dog.

I hope they will come down, the rise is disgusting.
I paid £150 for my girl and wouldn’t have expected to pay more than £300 (unregistered farm border collie, ‘working sheepdog’ technically speaking as she’s not reg)
I have been looking at adverts for a second dog, probably can’t fit in another collie but I still look and haven’t come across any under £1,000.

Exactly right @icedaisy. You're exactly the sort of person I'm looking for....but I live at the opposite end of the UK!

Horrible stories from posters about the situation in Ireland.

I agree there will be a saturation on prices at some point. But contrary to everything I read I have seen no signs of puppies in rescue places.

We are 'guilty' of paying inflated prices for a puppy (although at the low end of what I've read recently). We had wanted a dog for years but it wouldn't have been fair whilst nobody was at home for much of the day. Lockdown meant that dh is working at home until at least the new year, mostly likely much longer and my contract has become permanently from home. But also, we aren't away this summer and so it's been the perfect time to get a puppy. Teen dcs have spent loads of time training, playing and socialising him. So yes the price was inflated, but totally worth it. Hopefully lots of people like us and rescues wont be full.

But contrary to everything I read I have seen no signs of puppies in rescue places
I don’t think we ever will.
I do think we will see an awful lot of 6 - 18 month olds though, quite possibly with separation anxiety and socialisation issues, which some will refer to as ‘puppies’ but they aren’t at all imo, they are almost fully sized adolescents.

@borderstotheleftofme I hope you are wrong. Do you think the price may also have gone up because there are fewer puppies around - I imagine it was harder for dogs to meet and many breeders may have decided to wait until it was easier to access vets etc

Do you think the price may also have gone up because there are fewer puppies around imagine it was harder for dogs to meet and many breeders may have decided to wait until it was easier to access vets etc
Personally, no.
I think an awful lot of people who ordinarily wouldn’t have bought a dog did so out of not thinking about the long term implications eg suddenly working from home and/or boredom and the demand suddenly rocketed.

One of DHs friends is an old English sheepdog breeder and said no reputable breeder is breeding right now because of uncertainty with vets, difficulty getting new owners with social distancing, difficulty socialising etc and it’s only those thinking just of money breeding, which tbh, when pups are suddenly going for triple (or more!) the usual price, it’s hard to argue with that viewpoint.
I’ve seen puppies going for as much as £10,000 (Bulldogs/Frenchies)
Crazy!

*Getting to know new owners I meant

Prices won't go down until overbreeding stops. You'll be better off adopting from a shelter. I'd never buy a dog now. Adoption always. I don't want to contribute to the overpopulation of shelters.